Bag spreader



April 1950 H. D. HASLETT 2,505,289

BAG SPREADER Y Filed Feb. 26, 1947 IN V EN TOR.

" 1227 25 fife-91 52 Patented Apr. 25, 1950 ED: ES NT 0 F F EC E BAG? SPREADER;

HarOIdiDnHasIett, Wildwood, N.v J;

Application'l ebruary 26, 1947,.Scrial No. 7319106.:

2 Glaims; ((31:226-59.)

Thepresent'inventionrelateste bag Spreaders and it consists in-the combinations, constructions and arrangements orpar-ts: herein described and claimed.-

The invention contemplates the provision of asiinple device for the opening and holding open of paper bags, particularlycellophane bags, which are-used t'o-agreat extent in the storing of foods or the like in locker freezing plants. The device comprisesa singlepiece of wire, preferably of spring steei,looped at: its; central section to form a spring and having a. pair; of: arms protruding,-fromlsaidlooped portion which arms terminate in substantially U-shaped members which are adapted to hoid'a bag in open position.

It is. accordingly an object of the, invention to. provide a device ofthe character above; described" which will" make the opening and filling of cellophane; orsimilarz' bags, much faster and simpler than any of the devices of such character now extant.

A further object of'the invention is the provision of a device of this kind which is capable of use with only one hand.

A further object of the invention is the provision of a device of this kind which will make the use of a funnel unnecessary.

A still further object of the invention is the provision of a device of the character described which will be formed of a single piece of material, will be easy and inexpensive to manufacture and which will be simple in its operation.

Other and further objects of the invention will become apparent from a reading of the following specification taken in conjunction with the drawings, in which:

Figure 1 is a perspective view of an embodiment of the invention shown in use with a bag, and

Figure 2 is a perspective view of the invention per se.

Referring more particularly to the drawings, there is shown therein a bag spreader composed of a single piece of spring metal or the like and M and I5, respectively, bent minatingin. inwardly, and angularly direetedends 2i! and 2!, respectively In. operation, it will be apparentthatthe: operator of the device will grasp. the device as indicated by; thearm: and hand shown at Isl in dotted lines in Figure. 1; that istosay, byoncompassing-zthe-arms i l-and 3,111. his handiand forcing thesame together, thusforcing: the. por-- tions; It, It, l8 andz-Zilto, come into contact with theaportions- I5,- 11, I9, andZLwhich portions form the outer endsioi the device. The outer ends of. the devicemay. then be. inserted into av bag and thereupon the. pressure applied by the hand of theoperator. is released whereupon the spring action of the portion' It: tends to force.- the arms. Ii2 and. ltroutwardly which a a Sp ea'di gfandi shaping of thetopof the bag 22 to arectansularcontour, as indicated.- in Figure 1. The bag; mayi then be filled; while in 1, such position. It: will. be noted that. theportions as and: Zl; are. bent inwardly in; order: that. they may not tear: on otherwiseentangle with the. top of the. bag nor, in. themselves, place any." obstruction to the smooth operation of the device.

Aside from its low cost of manufacture, the invention provides several important advantages. For instance, as indicated in Figure 1, the connecting portions [6 and i! are shown spaced a considerable distance below the top plane of the bag; since the legs of the U-shaped portions extend vertically from the ends of these connecting portions 16 and I1, it can be understood that when the invention is in position, the mouth of the bag is opened to this extent for a distance equal to the depth of these portions relative to the top of the bag, although there is no actual connecting structure at the ends of the actual mouth, the legs of the U-formation retaining this mouth zone as of substantially uniform dimensions. As a result, there is no need of the use of a funnel or other commodity-directing agency to assure proper entry of the content, the invention holding the mouth of the bag completely distended for such depth, assuring accurate and proper delivery of the commodity.

Another important advantage. due to the construction of the invention results when opening a collapsed bag. As is apparent, the arms l2 and I3 can be closed to a position where the two U-shaped portions extend side by side, thus ofiering a comparatively narrow width for a length distance equal to the length of the portions l6 and H. In such condition the U-shaped portions can be easily moved into a slightly opened bag mouth-with the length of such portions extending lengthwise of the bag mouthto the desired depth, after which, with the bag mouth held, the arms are simply swung bodily arcuately a distance equal to a quarter turn to thus place them in their proper relation to the bag mouth, whereupon their release from pressure permits the U-shaped formations to spread the bag mouth to its proper dimensions. In this way bags-normally collapsed-may be rapidly :with smooth portions of the wire body which cannot damage the bag.

While but one form of the invention has been shown and described herein, it will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art that many minor modifications thereof may be made herein without departing from the scope of the invention or the spirit of the appended claims.

What is claimed is:

1. A'bag spreader adapted for service with the handle zone extending generally in a plane which is substantially parallel with the plane of the bag open top and perpendicular to the direction of depth of the bag, said spreader being formed from a single length of stiff resilient -wire, said length of wire being coiled in the I mid zone of its length to produce a pair of similar arms projecting outwardly from the coil zone in generally similar direction and plane, each arm having its free end zone bent into a U -shaped formation the legs of which extend downwardly .normal to and in the same plane of a handle member of the handle zone to locate the connecting portion of the legs as extending substantially parallel to such plane, the length of the connecting portion determining the width of the mouth of the bag in its spread position with the connecting portions internal of the bag, the axis of the coil zone extending substantially parallel to the length of the legs of the U-shaped formations, whereby the arms may be manually moved toward each other for insertion of the U-shaped portions into the bag mouth with the release of the arms permitting the coil zone to shift the arm end zones relatively outward to distend the bag mouth into an approximately rectangular contour with the legs of the U- shaped formations active in producing the corner zones of such contour and the connecting portion active to provide an unobstructed mouth zone of material depth and uniform dimensions.

2. A bag spreader as in claim 1 characterized in that the free end of the outer leg of each arm projects above the bag mouth and is bent slightly inward to thereby locate the exposed ends of the wire as remote from the bag wall, whereby damage to the bag wall by the exposed ends during insertion and removal of the spreader will be prevented.

HAROLD D. HASLETT.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 622,942 Daudelin Apr. 11, 1899 643,266 Griggs Feb. 13, 1900 1,653,393 Cox Dec. 20, 1927 2,188,047 Jones Jan. 23, 19%0 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 24,662 Sweden Apr. 9, 1907 

